The chairman of the Colorado Republican Party says he plans to inform a national GOP group today that it created a “backlash” by registering two domain names for potential U.S. Senate candidate Jane Norton.

Dick Wadhams pointed to a rash of e-mails during the weekend among Colorado Republicans who are upset with the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which they believe is playing favorites in the crowded 2010 primary field.

The backlash is so strong, Republican sources say, that Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck might stay in the Senate race after all. He had been expected to withdraw today.

Buck could not be reached for comment.

Colorado’s decision

“I fully intend to let them know that Colorado Republicans expect to select their nominee themselves without the endorsement of outside groups,” Wadhams said Sunday.

“There is a backlash. You can see it in the e-mail traffic.”

One e-mail was written by Le Moine Dowd and distributed by Scott Starin, chairman of the Boulder County Republican Party. The subject line reads, “Send this to every Republican you know.”

She wrote that the “the endorsement of Jane Norton by the NRSC is essentially a deathblow for all other candidates.”

“Do we want the NRSC deciding our candidate? Does this action by the NRSC make the primary election irrelevant? Does it make the Colorado Republican Party irrelevant?” she asked.

NRSC spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson reiterated Sunday that no candidate has been endorsed and that the group is focused on highlighting the record of Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet.

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